Creative Writing MLitt

What our students say

What our students say

My time on the Mlitt was exciting, challenging, and enriching. I was very much aware, week on week, of how the components of the course coalesced to improve the craft and rigour of my writing practice, providing me with the questions, critiques and challenges required to develop as a creative practitioner and to produce work which felt better honed and more fully evolved than anything I had produced before. The course is thoughtfully and sensitively delivered, providing a safe space for risk-taking and experimentation. Rose Ruane, MLitt, 2014

The MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow introduced me to an extremely talented group of writers with whom I am still collaborating and exchanging drafts and support. The course provided a gateway to opportunities that have helped me reach the next level in my writing career, including the publication of my first poetry collection, and the professors shared inspirational and mind-opening ideas that continue to influence my work. I can thoroughly recommend the programme. JL Williams (USA), 2007-09 www.jlwilliamspoetry.co.uk

The course has been a revelation to me. The progress I have made in my two years would simply not have been feasible without the support provided by the department's staff and my fellow students. This mentoring and sense of community have been vital. Opportunities such as editing the online journal From Glasgow to Saturn, and my writers' residency at Cove Park, have been a delight to receive. I urge anyone who wants to be a writer to consider applying for the course. Alan Gillespie (Scotland), 2009-11

The Creative Writing M.Litt was rigorous and exciting, and extremely useful in terms of balancing focus on individual work with supportive and stimulating seminar and workshop settings. It continues to profoundly influence and shape my academic and creative work. Micaela Maftei (Canada), 2007-08

Intellectually and creatively, the Mlitt is a superb course and had a transformative effect on my prose and my writing career; from a mediocre short story writer (with unleashed potential) I became a novelist, was short-listed for an award and rung up out of the blue by a publisher keen to read my work. The pastoral care is a crucial element in the success of the course and the writing community has had a lasting value, beyond words. Elinor Brown (Scotland), 2007-09

The creative writing course does not teach students to write. Rather, it stimulates them to better their writing. Apart from the tasks set in tutorial groups – presenting a piece of work regularly, critically analysing others’ work – the course provides the right atmosphere for a writer to experiment and grow.I entered the course with one personal stipulation: that I would only hand in work that was new, fresh, and different to anything I had previously written. One of the first experiments was the interweaving of cultural icons and real life events with fictional characters and incidents. Inspired by the New Journalism of Mailer, Capote and Tom Woolfe that bit further I worked on this idea for several stories, one of which was later anthologised. I then experimented with the use of shapes – and later colour – within a prose piece (published in Textualities literary magazine). The course gave me complete freedom to do this; and it gave me the pus h to try writing in such ways.The Creative Writing course made us see books as more than just stories; we looked at how design can reflect and enhance narratives ranging from Sterne to Wyndham Lewis to Alasdair Gray. I found equally invaluable the insights given to the role of the publisher and the agent as well as the writer and the creative process. The University of Glasgow MLitt in Creative Writing changed how I write and what I write. The degree I gained tells the world I’m a qualified creative writer; the writing I’ve done as a result of the course tells me I am. Roy McGregor (Scotland), 2006-08

The Creative Writing MLitt at Glasgow Uni has a fantastic reputation, but it far surpassed my expectations. I particularly valued developing my creative and editorial skills within a dynamic group of peers, under the guidance of esteemed writers and academics. The course gave me a richer understanding of craft, whilst nurturing my experimental streak and own areas of interest. The visiting speakers programme was excellent, as were opportunities to attend additional training programmes and innovative workshops. I enjoyed the MLitt so much I returned to study for a PhD, which is also proving a unique, inspiring, and broadening experience. Deborah Andrews (Scotland), 2006-08

Initially I saw the MLitt as a declaration of intent, not least to myself, that writing was something I was serious about. However, the course proved immensely fruitful in ways that have become more and more apparent in hindsight. It has given me a solid grounding from which I continue to benefit and maybe most importantly in my development as a writer, it made me a better reader.Ulrich Hansen (Denmark), 2007-09